Welcome back to another look at a featured Letterboxd List! My first installment for 2026 had us looking at the Letterboxd Top 250 list. Well, not too long ago that list doubled in size. That’s right, the Letterboxd Top 250 is now the Letterboxd Top 500. So today, I’m looking at a movie that falls into that 251-500 range, at number 265 (as of this writing) we find… Your Name. (2016).
Title: Your Name.
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Released: August 26, 2016 (Theatrical – Japan)
Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes
Available to stream on: HBOMAX
Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki) are both high school teens.
Mitsuha lives in the rural town of Itomori and longs for more out of life. She wants nothing more than to be reborn as a boy in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. Meanwhile, Taki lives in Tokyo and works part-time as a waiter.
Out of the blue one random morning, Mitsuha and Taki wake up to realize that they’ve swapped bodies. What makes things even stranger is that the change isn’t permanent and there isn’t a set schedule as to when it happens. Every couple of days, they’ll live out the other’s life and then wake up back in their own skin with nothing more than hazy memories of what happened.
Eventually, after getting as accustomed to body swapping as one can, Mitsuha and Taki begin to communicate with each other, though not in real time. Instead, they leave notes for each other in notebooks, on phones, and even on each other’s skin for the other to see.
Through these notes, the two begin to feel as if they genuinely know one another. But one day the swapping just abruptly stops.
Can they figure out how to continue body swapping?
Or maybe there’s a way they can communicate in real time?
Admittedly, anime is a bit of a blindspot for me.
I’ve seen a handful of Miyazaki films and that’s about as far as it goes. Though after watching Your Name. (2016), I’ll be looking to correct quite a few blindspots.
Visually, this looks absolutely incredible.
The backgrounds look like paintings come to life. I could turn off the subtitles, mute the audio, and just stare in awe for the entire runtime. The story and emotion within come across so well through just the animation alone. If I were in fact to watch it without any audio/subtitles, I don’t feel like I’d be missing out on too much.
Well, that is except for the score. I’d definitely miss that. While it isn’t present throughout the entire runtime, when it is used, it’s used to perfection. It manages to be reserved yet elegant, all while effortlessly becoming part of the film.
Just about two-thirds of the way into things, we get a plot twist that packs one heck of a punch. In fact, I’d say that the final act is what takes this from “really good” to “great”. Though I’m not about to spoil that for you.
Simply said, if you’ve yet to see Your Name. (2016), please correct that as soon as possible.
If you’ve seen Your Name. (2016), I want to hear from you!
Leave me a comment below or reach out on Bluesky and tell me what you thought of it!
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